Many in the national media gently praised Georgia’s play in the first two games of the season, but also concluded we know nothing about the 2026 Bulldogs. The level of competition so far has been too weak to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Arkansas may prove to be one of the worst teams in the SEC, but you could tell watching the game, they have much more talent than UGA’s first two opponents. Arthur Marshall is a legitimate threat at wide receiver. KJ Jackson showed he has talent and flashed moments of great quarterback play.
Overall, Arkansas has a long way to go and the fans are clearly not convinced coach Ryan Silverfield or the current batch of Hogs have the answers. The stadium was never more than 2/3s or 3/4s full and the crowd quickly ebbed from the high water mark. By the second half, many fans donned paper bags on their heads as called for on socials.
Georgia played well, but left offensive points on the field while bequeathing extra points to Arkansas on defense. Gunner could have left the game after leading the Dawgs to a 31-3 lead early in the 4th Quarter, but he returned for the 8th drive of the game for Georgia, and led a 1-play 61-yard drive on a pass to Dandridge to put the Dawgs up 38-3 with 12:42 to go. Had he not come in for that one play, he would have finished his day with under 100 yards passing, but nearly 100 on the ground.
Gunner finished with 147 yards passing and 97 rushing with one passing touchdown. On the season, Stockton has 9 TD passes and 7 incompletions. The Bulldogs have scored 178 points, the most they’ve scored in the 1st 3 games of the season in the AP Poll era. The defense has yielded 28 of 40 total points allowed on the season in the 4th quarters of the last 2 games, only allowing 12 total points in the other 10 quarters of football so far.
3 games in, the Dawgs are performing across the board at a much higher level than last year’s 12-2 SEC Champions. They are winning games 59.3 to 13.3 or by 46 points a game. Sure, you can’t say beating bad teams is the mark of a champion, but last year’s team lacked explosive plays and firepower. They were not very good at creating havoc on defense. This year, the Dawgs have 8 sacks, twice as many as this point last year, and 21 tackles for loss compared to just 14 last year. On offense, UGA is averaging more than 6 more plays a game of 10 yards or more. Stockton had both a pass and a run of more than 60 yards.
By this time next week, we will know how Georgia can perform against a top 25 team. But for now, we have enough data to say the Dawgs are more explosive on offense and creating more havoc on defense. That’s enough to be encouraging that this team may have a higher ceiling than last year’s SEC Champions, a playoff top 4 seed.